Thought Id start this one going because its rather dead on this board at the moment and I suppose all my usual muckers are either at the Stella tennis event watching Dim Tim (lose again) or at Henly Regatta eating cucumber sandwiches (they wish,...NOT).

Anyway please feel free to just talk to yourself blast away and let it go on any company or subject you wish. Just wish Id thought of this one before.

cheers GF.

300% increase in homeless since IDS introduced the Benefit cap.

And what exactly does that figure mean? 300% of 1 or perhaps 300% of 1000? The figure is meaningless and typical of media hype. Only a gullible idiot would pick out that comment as noteworthy.

As for the benefit cap, brilliant. Why should these families, most of which seem to be over sized (7 in one case, 9 in another) live on benefits. The fact they are allowed to do so is a disgrace. Personally I have no sympathy for people who cannot afford the children they produce with such financial irresponsibility.

Is ATOS being paid on target's to get people off sickness benifit , don't they have to have indepentent medical checks made. Same as you have when claiming invalid care allowance.

The benefit cap is also supported by the Labour party an 70% of the public. It is a policy that Labour has wanted to implement for years, but were too afraid to.

Alders sorry yes they are being paid to get as many off benefits as possible and secretly their are hidden targets set by IDS department. .

An administrator from ATOS (not always medicaly qualified) carried out the assessment asking certain questions to which answers were required and the answer placed into a data base and at the end of the medical an overal score churned out by the computer.

The score then passed onto the DECISION MAKER at the local DSS and they then make the decision based on all evidence presented by the claimant.

ATOS have now withdrawn or will do in the near future and a replacement is being sought.

The problem being that the descriptors provided by the DSS in the ATOS test are not flexible enough and claimants have been treated like robots..........hence some people like the chap you mention above didnt pass the ATOS test although to anyone with thier head screwed on can see they are not fit for work.

Hays the bedroom tax is not supported by Labour and Labour have stated they would not move people out of london. Their would be a safety net.

The Rich Will Destroy London Like They Destroy Everything Else
Posted on April 6, 2014 by johnny void

1-hyde-park

One Hyde Park, where flats cost £100 million and no-one lives in them.
It is difficult to imagine a more grotesque situation than entire streets full of mansions lying empty in Chelsea, Knightsbridge and Kensington whilst just down the road the number of people sleeping in shop doorways soars. But this is the sad reality of a reckless free-market economy which turns our homes into just one more commodity to be gambled with by the rich.

It is impossible to guess just how big the London housing bubble will get, and how far outside of the capital the impact will stretch. The news that house prices have risen by 18% in just one year should chill everyone who hopes to continue actually living in the city.

London’s housing market is being turned into a billionaire’s casino, and as more money pours in those returns will keep getting bigger. Or at least they will until someone blinks. And then the whole sorry scam will come crashing down, leaving the not quite so obscenely rich – who thought they were the players – discovering that they have been well and truly fucking played.

The end result could be a disaster as London is split between a minority of buy to let landlords, who have several homes, and tenants with none who can no longer afford the rents demanded to compensate for mass negative equity.

The real fucking tragedy though is that the only thing worse than the bubble bursting is prices continuing to soar. Already most of the capital is unaffordable for those on low incomes. With housing benefits now capped far below rents in many areas, the vast majority of London’s private tenants are only a P45, an illness, or an accident away from being socially exported from the capital.

As prices soar the creative heart of London will be ripped apart. The days when young people could come to the capital, live in a squat, or a cheap if grotty shared house in somewhere like Hackney or Brixton are already long gone. It is no surprise that beyond over-hyped internet start ups and hipster twats, London’s cultural life is decaying from the bottom up – those at the top just can’t see it yet. Artists, actors and musicians will be forced to join the exodus out of the city along with street cleaners and care workers.

Social housing is now being re-structured as a stepping stone for young middle class professionals, with laughably called affordable rents set at 80% of soaring local rental markets. Many of those who already have a council flat are being bedroom taxed out of the capital. When these tenancies end, these homes too will convert to ‘affordable housing’ in many boroughs – which means they will be unaffordable for most people.

The problems do not end there. Hundreds of thousands of children are currently growing up in social housing in London who will never be able to afford to live here when they have families of their own. Meanwhile as the so-called ‘generation rent’ approaches old age, few will have pensions which cover London rents. The housing crisis in London is only just beginning.

Yet to hear the debate about London’s housing problems you would think the problem only affects ‘young professionals’ hoping to get on the housing ladder. It is as if the rest of us – millions of us – do not exist. The people who built this city, clean it, drive the buses and look after its children are being quietly abandoned with no thought at all to our lives, housing needs or futures.

Across London, from Deptford to Tottenham, luxury flats are springing up like a virus – the first warning to the poor that this is no longer our town. There was a time when gentrification took a couple of decades, areas like Notting Hill did not become the playgrounds of the rich overnight. Now as soon as a Foxtons opens next to the launderette you know you’re fucked.

When this onslaught is finally complete London will die. No-one wants to live in a city full of braying chinless wankers jabbering into smart phones about house prices all day. A global city of the super rich may sound like a utopia to the likes of Boris Johnson or the toffs in government. But they will destroy London like they destroy everything else. The end result will be a city that may have lots of places to buy fucking artisan cupcakes or quaff Champagne, but it will be a place with no soul. Their money will not be able to fix that.

Exec,

Thanks for the list.

Very useful!

QT

Martin Sorrell best panellist

Something wrong here gf.

Central London schools are bursting with new incomers, not the millionaire types either..whats going on?

Max the article says this........"Hundreds of thousands of children are currently growing up in social housing in London who will never be able to afford to live here when they have families of their own".ENDS.................... not sure I get your point?.

For rich Russians, UK schools in class of their own
Catherine Boyle | @cboylecnbc
Thursday, 3 Apr 2014 | 3:40 AM ET

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101550397

5 countries that gained the most millionaires
Robert Frank | @robtfrank
Thursday, 27 Mar 2014 | 1:51 PM ET

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101531767

it's in the article gf.


"Yet to hear the debate about London’s housing problems you would think the problem only affects ‘young professionals’ hoping to get on the housing ladder. It is as if the rest of us – millions of us – do not exist. The people who built this city, clean it, drive the buses and look after its children are being quietly abandoned with no thought at all to our lives, housing needs or futures."

Max, think you need to knock on Boris Js door and ask him.

MAX.

It is because the streets are paved with gold.

(Fool's gold.)

---

The attraction of London is the hope of a job and if an immigrant without contacts the only named town they know.

Also it is only 70 odd miles to Dover etc..

-----------------

Another problem is that government institutions and employment is are situated in London, although some of the "civil service" has been distributed elsewhere.

The primary attraction was some years ago London weighting and the search by the young and affluent for the "glamour" of London.

But probably London will implode, especially if the is another economic "crash".

Happy days.

MAX.

It is because the streets are paved with gold.

(Fool's gold.)

---

The attraction of London is the hope of a job and if an immigrant without contacts the only named town they know.

Also it is only 70 odd miles to Dover etc..

-----------------

Another problem is that government institutions and employment is are situated in London, although some of the "civil service" has been distributed elsewhere.

The primary attraction was some years ago London weighting and the search by the young and affluent for the "glamour" of London.

But probably London will implode, especially if the is another economic "crash".

Happy days.

.

Des Res at sheperds bush.

absolute shithole, heaving with people.

Still, this little property is much sought after.

Good value if you ignore the size, rates £1k, service charge (lol) £4k




Sold @ £275k


http://www.foxtons.co.uk/search?property_id=872212&search_form=map&search_type=SS&submit_type=search

Indeed Fred, it's going to go pop!